What Happened to Healthy Eating? Boston Marathon Training – Week 1

Real fruit at the bottom yogurt…just fruit and plain yogurt. A good snack when going back to the basics.

The 2018 Boston Marathon will commence 17 weeks from today.

I’ve been eating horribly! Cookies, candy, and various other forms of holiday junk have wrecked havoc on my diet. I haven’t eaten this horribly in years and my body is feeling it! Bloated…skin breaking out…grouchiness. Underneath all this is the fear that if I stay on my present course it probably won’t take long to gain back all the weight I’ve lost and kept off. What’s up with this year?

Last night I remembered that for the past two years I was in the middle of marathon training during the holiday season, and so didn’t indulge as much in the holiday goodies. In early 2016 I ran my 3rd marathon, Surf City (Race Recap – Surf City Marathon). This was the first since I started working with a coach. Then, in early 2017 I ran my first attempt to qualify for Boston at the Carlsbad Marathon. Logging lots of miles helped to burn calories…but more beneficially it lead to better choices in eating because you don’t want to feel horrible on a run.

This year I’ve been mostly walking as I recovered from my first 50k (December 2nd – Race Day – Ray Miller 50K Recap). The first week of recovery was walking with a 2 mile run at the end of the week. Last week I ran 2.25 miles on Monday & Wednesday. Had fun at a Jingle Jog, for 2.75 miles. And ended the week running a nice 5 miles on Saturday. Because I’m leading a Mile a Day Challenge, I’ve also walked at least a mile on non-run days. So I’ve been moving while recovering…but not enough to counteract a horrible diet.

There is also the truth that for many of us, or all of us who struggle with weight, that eating lots of fat and sugar just leads to eating more and more fat and sugar. It is an addiction in that eating at the moment feels wonderful…but is followed by feeling awful as well as guilty (to yourself!).

So, today I’m officially starting my Boston Marathon training… a week early…even if my coach hasn’t given me anything but additional recovery for the week! I can’t think of a more inspirational way to hit the reset button!

This means…food diary until I get my eating back under control and easing back into my 5 days of running per week with a long run on Saturday. Yeah! I love training!